It is always such a lovely time to be looking back and looking forward as spring seems to be unfolding in anticipation of summer. There are Love Notes unfoldingeverywhere, reminding us of the blessings and the joys in our lives amid the challenges and sorrows.
We have had another year of loss and this past year has been heartbreaking in many ways. Through it all, we have been there to bear witness with and for one another and we have been there to support one another. We were especially grateful to Robert Girard, our area chaplain, for coming in to offer us a Reflection around loss and grief.
We have begun to build some new places of support for one another, including a monthly Death Cafe hosted by Austina Towle and myself. Death Cafes are free and open to everyone to engage in conversations around the hard topics of death, dying, and all that surrounds those topics.
I have taken a training with the National Alliance on Mental Illness in Mental Health First Aid to learn more about ways to be of support to one another in the challenges that are often hidden. As usual, our annual Lute Concert benefited Suicide Prevention.
This past year, we have supported one another through visits, Love and Support Cards, Cheer Baskets, Cheer Soups, and through Neighbors Events and gatherings. We have found more ways to remind ourselves and one another that we are not alone in this life. We have worked with the Neighbors Group to offer a Waffle Breakfast and they continue to plant daffodils. We have worked with the Interfaith Neighbors Connecting (INC) to collectively work with one another on greater missions (like the CROP Walk) and offer Thanksgiving and Lenten Services as a larger faith community.
Our own Missions have continued. Examples include supporting NQCA, the Salvation Army, Child Fund International, Heifer International, Community Meals, the Orange Food Pantry, Fuel Oil for our neighbors, and small scholarships to our youth. We, once again, are filled with gratitude for Ward Johnson’s gifts that continue to support our church and missions.
Our annual Fairs have been a wonderful success and continue to bring the community together. We offered our annual Strawberry Social and Raffle, Paint and Sips, our Annual MidWinter Tea, and 5K (which will be an extra special event this coming August in honor of Janice Nicoliello who helped found the race). While raising money is lovely, it has been a blessings to be with neighbors and friends to do good work together in our community and beyond. We have been brainstorming ideas for fundraisers and how we might use them to support specific missions. We are looking forward to what this new year brings.
We have grown and are blessed to have new people in our congregation, including new youth. Jennifer has been working with the kids on the Joyful Path Curriculum and we have new ideas and plans, including Confirmation Studies for kids 14+ and yoga for the kids. We are so grateful and hopeful as we welcome new faces into our growing community of love and faith.
For adults, we have continued our Friday Walk and Talks and Community Yoga. We have a monthly Discussion Group and Coffee Hour has been a lovely place for us to catch up with one another around the things of our daily lives. Owen Ash and I continue to offer at-home contemplative practices for special seasons.
We have enjoyed the blessings on the journey of life this past year, including the baptism of Thomas and the wedding of Ed and Jacki. We are so blessed to bear witness to each other in both the ordinary and the special times.
In short, we continue to cultivate a community together of Good Work, of Love, and of Grace. We cannot continue to do this good work int he world without each and every one of you doing your part to make this community a place of Kindness and Goodness. We give thanks for this church and the people who make up our Home away from home.
I continue to take summer session classes with Yale Divinity School, as well as other classes and independent study throughout the year. I am currently enrolled in a History of the UCC course and plan to take a History of the UUA to be more knowledgable around our denominations. I am grateful and honored to continue to serve as your minister. I am still awed and humbled by the ways in which God works in this human world.
Together may we find comfort and faith. Together may we hold tight to Love first and always. May we be inspired by hope and offer this world more compassion. May we continue to walk with one another through all of the rich joys, blessings, and challenges that are this human journey. May we know God’s Love in the Love Notes of Blessings that abound all around us.
Love & Blessings,
Charlotte I. Weltzin, Minister
Community Church of North Orange & Tully 